News
Latest News
news bulletin
Breaking Headlines
Lebanon News
Press Highlights
World
Lebanon Economy
News Bulletin Reports
Variety
Middle East
Sports
Other News
Breaking Headlines
Lebanon News
Press Highlights
World
Lebanon Economy
News Bulletin Reports
Variety
Middle East
Sports
Beirut
16
o
Mount Lebanon
16
o
Metn
18
o
Keserwan
18
o
North
17
o
South
16
o
Bekaa
8
o
Live
Video
Audio
Schedule
shows
العربية
watching now
Asmaa Min Al Madi
SUBSCRIBE
Home
Notification
Live
Video
Audio
shows
Beirut
16
o
Mount Lebanon
16
o
Metn
18
o
Keserwan
18
o
North
17
o
South
16
o
Bekaa
8
o
News
Programs
The News
Breaking Headlines
Lebanon News
Press Highlights
World
Lebanon Economy
News Bulletin Reports
Variety
Middle East
Sports
Programs
Series
Talk Show
News Bulletin
Oldies
Variety
Comedy
Other
Sports
Documentaries
The Untold History
New Year Shows
Lebanon’s Centennial
Breaking News
Latest News
Highlighted News
Most Read
Videos
العربية
Watch the latest programs and the latest developments on your favorite screen
Shows
Join millions of followers
Who We Are
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Careers
Channel frequencies
Privacy Policy
Terms and Conditions
Microsoft: Iran unit behind Charlie Hebdo hack-and-leak op
World
2023-02-03 | 11:38
High views
Share
Share
3
min
Microsoft: Iran unit behind Charlie Hebdo hack-and-leak op
After the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s launched a cartoon contest to mock Iran’s ruling cleric, a state-backed Iranian cyber unit struck back with a hack-and-leak campaign that was designed to provoke fear with the claimed pilfering of a big subscriber database, Microsoft security researchers say.
The FBI blames the same Iranian cyber operators, Emennet Pasargad, for an influence operation that sought to interfere in the 2020 US presidential election, the tech giant said in a blog published Friday. Iran has in recent years stepped up false-flag cyber operations as a tool for discrediting foes.
Calling itself “Holy Souls” and posing as hacktivists, the group claimed in early January to have obtained personal information on 200,000 subscribers and Charlie Hebdo merchandise buyers, according to Microsoft’s Digital Threat Analysis Center.
As proof of the data theft, “Holy Souls” released a 200-record sample with names, phone numbers and home and email addresses of Charlie Hebdo subscribers that “could put the magazine’s subscribers at risk for online or physical targeting” by extremists. The group then advertised the supposed complete data cache on several dark web sites for $340,000.
Microsoft said it did not know whether anyone purchased the cache.
A representative for Charlie Hebdo said Friday that the newspaper would not comment on the Microsoft research. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
The Jan. 4 sample release coincided with the publication of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoon contest issue. Entrants were asked to draw offensive caricatures of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The French newspaper Le Monde verified multiple victims of the leak from the sample, Microsoft said. The Iranian cyber operators sought to boost news of the hack-and-leak operation — and fuel outrage at the cartoon edition — through fake French “sock-puppet” accounts on social media platforms that included Twitter, Microsoft said.
The operation coincided with verbal attacks by Tehran condemning Charlie Hebdo’s “insult.”
The provocatively irreverent magazine has a long history of publishing vulgar cartoons which critics consider deeply insulting to Muslims. Two French-born al-Qaida extremists attacked the newspaper’s office in 2015, killing 12 cartoonists, and it Charlie Hebdo has been the target of other attacks over the years.
The magazine billed the Khamenei caricature contest as a show of support for nationwide antigovernment protests that have convulsed Iran since the mid-September death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code.
After the cartoon issue was published, Iran shut down a decades-old French research institute. Last week, it announced sanctions targeting more than 30 European individuals and entities, including three senior Charlie Hebdo staffers. The sanctions are largely symbolic as they bar travel to Iran and allow its authorities to block bank accounts and confiscate property in Iran.
According to the FBI, Emennet Pasargad authored what amounted to a relatively ham-fisted campaign to interfere with the 2020 US presidential election. The group obtained confidential US voter information from at least one state election website and sent threatening email messages to intimidate voters posing as the far-right group Proud Boys, the FBI says.
Emennet Pasargad has also, since 2018, conducted cyber-operations targeting news, shipping, airlines, oil and petrochemical, financial, and telecommunications, in the US, Europe, and the Middle East, the FBI says. The US newspaper chain Lee Enterprises was among the suspected targets, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The group’s attacks since 2020 have primarily targeted Israel, the FBI says. They follow a pattern of intrusion, theft, data leak and then amplification through social media and online forums. In some cases destructive malware has been used.
AP
World
Middle East
Middle East
Microsoft
Iran
Unit
Behind
Charlie Hebdo
Hack
Leak
Operation
Government
Politics
Technology
Europe
Technology
Next
US seeks to expel Russian mercenaries from Sudan, Libya
Pakistan says mosque bomber wore police uniform, breached security on motorbike
Previous
Related Articles
d-none hideMe
0
Variety
2023-03-17
Explainer: What is Generative AI, the technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT?
Variety
2023-03-17
Explainer: What is Generative AI, the technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT?
0
World
2023-03-09
US, European powers express alarm at Iran enriching uranium to 84 percent
World
2023-03-09
US, European powers express alarm at Iran enriching uranium to 84 percent
0
World
2023-03-03
IAEA's Grossi arrives in Iran to discuss cooperation
World
2023-03-03
IAEA's Grossi arrives in Iran to discuss cooperation
0
World
2023-03-02
IAEA's Grossi to travel to Iran, seeking breakthrough on cooperation
World
2023-03-02
IAEA's Grossi to travel to Iran, seeking breakthrough on cooperation
Recommended For You
d-none hideMe
0
World
09:56
At least 29 African migrants die when two boats sink off Tunisia
World
09:56
At least 29 African migrants die when two boats sink off Tunisia
0
World
09:53
Biden declares emergency for Mississippi due to storm damage
World
09:53
Biden declares emergency for Mississippi due to storm damage
0
World
09:35
Battery maker Northvolt in talks for over $5 billion in financing - FT
World
09:35
Battery maker Northvolt in talks for over $5 billion in financing - FT
0
World
06:47
Standard Chartered agrees to sell business in Jordan
World
06:47
Standard Chartered agrees to sell business in Jordan
Subscribe to our VOD
SUBSCRIBE
Our visitors readings
d-none hideMe
0
Lebanon Economy
2023-03-21
Lebanon's currency catastrophe: The 140,000 LBP to USD plunge
Lebanon Economy
2023-03-21
Lebanon's currency catastrophe: The 140,000 LBP to USD plunge
0
Press Highlights
2023-03-24
Lebanon's restaurant institutions have decreased in number since 2019: report
Press Highlights
2023-03-24
Lebanon's restaurant institutions have decreased in number since 2019: report
0
World
2023-03-20
Pinduoduo owner's revenue falls short on weak consumer spending
World
2023-03-20
Pinduoduo owner's revenue falls short on weak consumer spending
0
Variety
2023-03-20
Jordan-based company to start producing "Made in Lebanon" electronic devices following agreement with Lebanese University
Variety
2023-03-20
Jordan-based company to start producing "Made in Lebanon" electronic devices following agreement with Lebanese University
Videos
d-none hideMe
0
Variety
2023-03-16
BAM Leb mobile app launched to revolutionize Lebanon's tourism, culture experience
Variety
2023-03-16
BAM Leb mobile app launched to revolutionize Lebanon's tourism, culture experience
0
News Bulletin Reports
2023-02-02
US must think long before granting Lebanon Caesar Act waiver: Congressman
News Bulletin Reports
2023-02-02
US must think long before granting Lebanon Caesar Act waiver: Congressman
0
Lebanon News
2023-01-25
Beirut blast investigations: The latest
Lebanon News
2023-01-25
Beirut blast investigations: The latest
0
Lebanon News
2023-01-23
Here is what preliminary investigations reveal after grenade attack on LBCI
Lebanon News
2023-01-23
Here is what preliminary investigations reveal after grenade attack on LBCI
0
Lebanon News
2023-01-19
Khalaf, Saliba start open-ended stay inside parliament until president is elected
Lebanon News
2023-01-19
Khalaf, Saliba start open-ended stay inside parliament until president is elected
0
News Bulletin Reports
2022-12-23
Lebanon lacks leaders with geopolitical vision: Naufal Daou
News Bulletin Reports
2022-12-23
Lebanon lacks leaders with geopolitical vision: Naufal Daou
0
News Bulletin Reports
2022-12-07
FPM likely to ditch white ballots following disagreement with Hezbollah
News Bulletin Reports
2022-12-07
FPM likely to ditch white ballots following disagreement with Hezbollah
0
Lebanon News
2022-12-07
Bassil sparks debate on long-awaited decentralization reform
Lebanon News
2022-12-07
Bassil sparks debate on long-awaited decentralization reform
0
Lebanon Economy
2022-12-07
Israel has recruited hundreds of spies, making use of Lebanon's collapse
Lebanon Economy
2022-12-07
Israel has recruited hundreds of spies, making use of Lebanon's collapse
Most read
d-none hideMe
24 hours
7 days
Month
1
Lebanon News
10:06
Education Minister confirms daylight saving time for schools, vocational institutions
Lebanon News
10:06
Education Minister confirms daylight saving time for schools, vocational institutions
2
Variety
06:03
Lebanese Marilyne Naaman amazes The Voice France with her performance
Variety
06:03
Lebanese Marilyne Naaman amazes The Voice France with her performance
3
Lebanon News
05:18
Daylight savings dispute leaves Lebanon with two time zones
Lebanon News
05:18
Daylight savings dispute leaves Lebanon with two time zones
4
Lebanon News
08:39
In times of crisis, Lebanese squabble over clock change
Lebanon News
08:39
In times of crisis, Lebanese squabble over clock change
5
News Bulletin Reports
12:57
Lebanon's top 5 economic decisions: A recipe for disaster
News Bulletin Reports
12:57
Lebanon's top 5 economic decisions: A recipe for disaster
6
Lebanon News
06:59
Lebanon at risk, free dialogue needed for survival, says FPM Leader Bassil
Lebanon News
06:59
Lebanon at risk, free dialogue needed for survival, says FPM Leader Bassil
7
News Bulletin Reports
12:03
Cost of ignoring IMF report warnings: Lebanon's crisis deepens
News Bulletin Reports
12:03
Cost of ignoring IMF report warnings: Lebanon's crisis deepens
8
Middle East
05:44
Party pressure mounts on Netanyahu to pause judicial overhaul
Middle East
05:44
Party pressure mounts on Netanyahu to pause judicial overhaul
Download now the LBCI mobile app
To see the latest news, the latest daily programs in Lebanon and the world
Google Play
App Store